Branson Trout Unlimited Chapter Meeting in Springfield Feb 10th

Our local Trout Unlimited Chapter is hosting an informative meeting 7 p.m. Feb 10 at the MDC Springfield Nature Center in south Springfield. Brian Sloss is a guide and outfitter on the Elevenpoint River. He knows the river like no other. OzarkAnglers is sponsoring the event.

If you're not familiar with the Elevenpoint, it's located in south central Missouri and runs through Mark Twain National Forest. It's fed by some of the largest springs in the state and has some incredible cold and warm water fishing. It's stocked with rainbow trout and also has a very good population of smallmouth bass.

Our next meeting will be at the Springfield Nature Center. At 7 p.m. Thursday, March 5, Bill Babler and friends will talk on bass and all other fishing on Table Rock Lake.

Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report 2/2/09

Guessing generation seems to be the biggest question we get here at Lilleys’ Landing Resort in Branson, Missouri. It’s hard but not impossible. We look at past patterns, like last week and this weekend. Last week’s temperatures were cold but not sub zero. Most of the time they were hovering around 30 degrees. Generation was moderate with a few down times but not many. The weekend- warm temps and no generation. This week- 50’s and 60’s starting Thursday through the weekend so I’d say very little generation and lots of down water. If there’s any generation it will be like from 7 am till 9 or 10 am and then a little in the evening.

Last week I reported seeing lots of nice rainbows. This past weekend, the Masters Trout Tournament proved the reports right on. We have never seen average weights at any trout tournament on Taneycomo like Saturday’s, never! Here’s the weights (8 trout):

Dwiggins/Wucher - 11.22 with a 4.12 lb rainbow (Gerry Dwiggins)

2. Lutz/Fitshenery - 10.92

3. Allen/Allen - 9.92

4. Canter/Canter - 9.40

Gregg/Peele - 9.04

Dudley/Neal - 8.96

Weldele/Cross - 8.70

Boswell/Kalkbrenner - 8.68

Burckhardt/Black - 8.64

Daniels/Hattfield - 8.54

R Dwiggins/Freise - 8.38

Backer/Godefroid - 7.90

Hittler/Dietl - 7.68

Beam/Topolsky - 7.62

Rasnick/Rasnick - 7.46

Slagle/Hunter - 7.16

Cartwright/Sullivan - 7.04

Hawkins/Hawkins - 7.04

Bracy/Bracy - 6.38

Steuck/Billings - 6.14

Ray/Fricke - 5.74

Fuhrman/Taylor - 5.56

Dressel/Kotomos - 5.12

Wheeler/Wheeler - 5.02

Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery must have stocked a bunch of nice trout here in the last few weeks downstream. Most of them are still down around the bridges but they are slowly making their way up.

Guys in the tournament caught a majority of their trout down. One team trolled crank baits and spoons (like cleos) all day between the highway 65 bridge and the business 65 bridge. Others threw an 1/8th oz jig straight, no float, and works the docks on either side of the lake around the bridges. But some of the good rainbows were caught further uplake - around Fall Creek and Short Creek and around the resorts like Cooper Creek.

In short, fishing was very good on Saturday.

Now today (Monday, 2/1/09), fishing was alittle slow. OK — real slow by my standards. Another blue bird day with little wind, but running water which I was looking forward to fishing. Two units this morning early (7:30 am) backing off to about 1.5 units by 9 am. Boated to the dam and started with, yes, an 1/8th oz white jig. Was catching trout on them a couple of weeks ago and heard there may be some shad coming through the dam so white jig was the logical choice. Water running perfect - white jigs - I’m excited! But the trout were not. Not a bite first drift, not until almost the boat ramp. Then I picked up a couple of rainbows before heading back up.

Second drift, nothing again till the Big Hole area where I picked up another rainbow, this time a nice rainbow (pic). Better drift but still not up to par. Drifted down to past Lookout thinking they might wake up and did fair. Nothing large but did see a couple of those big, dark males we’ve been talking about.

Back to the dam and tried a sculpin colored jig, then purple, then back to white. All they’d look at was a white jig. Just an off day. It happens.

If I were getting out and fishing below Fall Creek with bait, I’d for sure bring a minnow bucket and drift a minnow on the bottom right down the middle of the lake. I like a challenge and fishing minnows and night crawlers is a challenge — to me anyhow. May be I make it a challenge by the way I rig the baits. Using a minnow, I hook it through the lower lip and up in to and through the upper lip. The challenge is hooking the trout as he’s trying to suck the minnow off the hook. I hold my rod high while drifting so when the bite starts, I can let the rod down as the trout is tugging at the minnow. After letting the rod tip down most of the way, I set the hook. Same with the night crawler. I hook it through the collar and break the worm in half, letting the worm dangle off both sides of the hook. Letting the trout take the worm gives me a better chance at hooking it.

Power Gulp Eggs, you don’t have to let the trout have it at all. Set the hook immediately. Don’t wait a second.

Fishing with Phil

Vince and I boated to the Narrows about a mile above Fall
Creek. Water was off, temp dropping and wind stiff out of the north at 15 mph at 2 pm. The only thing we could do is use a jig and float. Vince had his fly rod and me my spin cast.

We set the boat up on the shallow flat in about 2 ft of water and cast to the deeper side but still not much more than 3 to 3.5 feet. Even with the waves almost breaking over, we could see rainbows all over the place slashing and jumping- they were very active. Vince started with an olive 1/80th oz jig and I with a white 1/50th oz. Vince had a couple before I got my first. It was a white bass- about 3/4 lb. I saw others but they schooled on by.

The wind was really moving us, too fast to catch fish so I threw out an anchor and we really started to nail them. We both hooked some really nice rainbows, lost several but landed a few along with other trout. All rainbows. All were very fat and healthy- lots of color. Caught some males, darken and yellow tinted. We ended it at 4:30- C of O had a couple of B-Ball games and Vince had to get back.

The wind was pretty crazy. It would blow hard and make the water roll, then tame down but the waves kept going. It was rippled so we could see down in and see the rainbow schooling around. We’d throw close enough to see them swarming under the indicator but the float wouldn’t move until, wait…, the float would finally dart. It was fun.

We also tried this- setting the float at 3 feet, we were fishing in less than 3 feet of water. That means the jig was laying on the bottom. I’d hop the float, hopping the jig off the bottom may be 12 inches. When I did this, I’d see one- maybe two- rainbows dart over toward where the jig was, seeing the movement and being drawn to it. I’d do it again and he’d hit it hard.

If we’d used a white jig (we didn’t cause they were on an olive), we would have seen the jig disappear into the trout’s mouth. That’s cool too.

I have to say I was very impressed with the size and fight of these rainbows. I saw others quite a bit bigger than the ones we hooked. I’m excited about our prospects this winter and spring.

Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report Jan 17

Has this been an unusual winter here in the Ozarks... Not really. It's pretty normal for us to have cold spells, even down in the single digits. the nice thing about this part of the country is that these spells generally don't last even long. In a day or two, it's back up in the 40's and 50's, long enough to get out and fish before the next cold front moves through.

On Lake Taneycomo, generation has been fairly consistent. About 2 units on at daylight till about 10 am, then off till dark when they kick on 2 units for about 3-4 hours. Weekends- they tend to leave the water off for longer periods of time, if they run it at all. BUT that's not always the case. Today, Saturday, they ran water all day to the dismay of I bet lots of anglers who made the trip to Taney to wade below the dam. Sometimes I think they just want to tick us off.

Out of boats, we've been drifting egg flies, scuds and san juan worms using a spit shot or drift rig to get them down, drifting them on the bottom all the way down to Fall Creek. San Juans- red or tan; Scuds- gray, olive, brown or tan; and egg flies combinations of peach and yellow. If the water isn't running too hard, using a fly rod set a float 6-9 feet above a fly and use a split shot to get the fly to the bottom. Drift the shallow side of the lake. Spin rig again- work a 1/8th oz jig off the bottom while drifting. Colors- white has been the best by far but should have an olive, sculpin, purple, black or brown/orange ready just in case. Wading with the water running- you're confined to the outlets below the dam. Use scuds, midges and egg flies and watch others to learn how to catch fish. It's really pretty easy if you can find a spot.

Below Fall Creek, you can use the same flies and jigs but you're not confined to artificials. You can use live bait. Some are throwing Rapalas, Rogues and Pointers both in the trophy area and below. Working the bluff banks where trees and brush are just like you'd work it for bass. Jerk the bait down and pause, then jerk some more. Little cloes and spin-a-lures are working too. We sold a bunch today out of our tackle store. Best colors seem to be nickel, gold, reds and blues. Most are casting the out and letting them sink a little, then reeling them back in straight. Some are trolling them slowly behind the boat.

Water off- by boat, the trophy area has been fishing great. Jigs again, either fished with or without a float in the colors mentioned earlier. Straight line- use 3/32 to 1/16th oz and work them off the bottom like fishing for crappie. Under a float use 1/50th to 1/256 in a micro and think about dropping to 2 lb line. Four pound is fine for everything else. Fish the jigs 4-5 feet deep. In the micros, olive with an orange head or pink with a chrome head. Marabou- brown or sculpin with an orange head. Look for the chop... a surface with a croppy surface catches more fish.

Fly fishing below the dam- below the dam, if there's a chop on the water, strip a soft hackle (#16 red, black, white, yellow or green) or a wooly (#12 olive, black, brown, purple, white) or a crackleback (#14 white, gray, brown) or a sculpin or leech in earth colors. My favorite is the san juan in red and I fish them anywhere there's moving water. Scuds (#14-#18 gray, olive, tan, brown or white) also in moving water or fished in the shallow flats where trout are nosing around in the gravel with their tails sticking out of the water. Moving water- between outlets 1 and 2, rebar and below rebar and the rocking chair has several areas where the water is moving fast enough. For stripping soft hackles, woolies or leeches you really don't need moving water.

The area below the boat ramp is seeing quite a bit of surface action and they seem to be taking dry flies pretty good here- even down through the KOA area. Elk Hair Caddis (#14-#18's in olive or yellow) are my favorite. Try dropping a midge under the dry anywhere from 12 to 36 inches.

From a boat, use a weighted scud (#14 - #18 in gray, olive, tan or brown) under an indicator so that the scud is very close to if not on the bottom. I use this technique mostly from Lookout down to Fall Creek and I usually stay in the middle of alittle on the channel side of the lake, trying to put my bug close to if not on the drop off from the flat to the channel. I'll work the fly, moving it 6 to 12 inches, making it jump off the bottom and letting it settle back down like a scud might.

Above or below Fall Creek, we use fly rods when fishing a jig and float all the time. Either micros or marabou jigs fished 4 to 6 feet deep. Again, I like to fish the channel drop down to Short Creek which is about in the middle of the lake. Don't be stick on one depth- if they aren't biting very well, change colors and change depths of the jig.

Fishing Report December 30, 2008

Got out and fished yesterday from about 1-5 pm with Tom Burckhardt from St Charles. He's one of our tournament buddies. First we fished from Fall Creek to Short Creek, working both jigs on the bottom straight and jigs under a float. Didn't have much luck with the float but did catch a few on straight-lining... but it was slow. Tom and the other 2 guys, Bob and Gerry Dwiggins, also from St Charles, did well in the am in the same areas but the pm was slow. Quite a bit of boat traffic- not horrible but enough it may have kept the trout moving around.

Tom and I boated up to Andy's (lookout) and started there on the second drift. No water mind you, just working the trolling motor. We did much better and as the sun dropped below the trees, it got good. Didn't find a special color- I caught rainbows on white, olive, sculpin and purple. Tom stuck with sculpin/little bit of ginger and did better than I. The best was working a jig under a float there at the last 30 minutes of the day- they wouldn't leave it alone.

Tom ties a scud of sorts on a 1/80th oz jig. Dubbed body with a pine squirrel tail, brown head. He isn't a fly fisherman at all but is a very good jig fisherman. I've seen this pattern but Tom proved to me it's something to seriously experiment with in the near future. He used it under a float.

Water yesterday- lower section was colored. I could see a jig 18 inches down. At Lookout - 30 inches. But it will change today- they are running water as I type. Not much but it will push clear water down the lake. How far is yet to be seen.

I did see people catching fish on both gulp eggs and night crawlers below Fall Creek. It wasn't hot but at least they were catching some for the dinner table.

-Phil Lilley

Trout Fishing Report, 12/3/08

Seems like the Corp is settling into a pattern of generation this week of running water early in the mornings till about 10 am, then shutting it down till 5 pm and running it a bit into the night. This is a pretty typical pattern- they are generating power during peak power demand times of the day/night. On colder nights/mornings, people are kicking their heaters on to warm up the house or office, then cutting them back during the day. Makes sense I guess. The water they're running in the mornings isn't that much and it doesn't take long for it to drop out once they shut it down.

These darker days seem to make the trout bite a bit better. Today, the wind has laid down though so the fish are going to be a little hard to fool and easier to spook. If there's just a little breeze, our trout get active and start looking for stuff to eat. That's why I tell people to seek out choppy surfaces along the lake.

Up below the dam, wade fishing was been great. There's alot of rainbows up there for the catching. Stripping leeches and buggers in earth colors (brown, olive, black, purple, dark red) #10's to #6's in deeper pools (from the cable half way down to outlet #2, between #2 to the top of rebar, the big hole area down thru the KOA).

Stripping soft hackles in red, olive, black or yellow #14's and #16's where there's a little current and/or where there's a chop on the surface of the water; stripping a crackle back in lighter colors (white hackle/red, yellow, orange body) #14 in same areas and conditions as soft hackles.

Dry flies #8 stimulator in yellow or orange, #12 olive elk hair caddis, #14 renegades, #14 black ants worked against the banks, especially a bluff or high bank.

Midge larva and pupa fished where rainbows are feeding on midges, either on the surface or under the surface- #20's to #24's thread midge or emergers in cream, brown, olive or red. Either grease the line or use a small indicator but it must be small and light like a palsa not to spook the trout that are feeding. They tend to be either in shallow water or close to the surface when feeding on midges to the line or indicator will scare them easily.

Zebra Midge #14's to #20's in red, black, olive, rust, pearl using a variety of heads, mainly tungsten, fished below an indicator targeting feeding rainbows. Depth of fly depends on trout activity. If they're feeding close to the surface, set the indicator about 10 inches. If not, set it at 2-4 feet.

Scuds and sow bugs #12's to #20's but mainly #16's and #18's in olive, varied shades of gray, tan and brown. Some have been tying a bit of orange in the dubbing imitating a pregnant or dead scud. Either use weighted flies or use a small split shot. Areas- anywhere from the cable down to Fall Creek.

Tippet - 5x-6x for most nymphs (scuds, sow bugs), 4x for most woolies and leeches, 6x for most zebras, and some midges but when using the smallest midges, use 7x, dries- depends on the size of the fly.

Micro jigs, mainly in olive, black and brown. Set the indicator about 4-5 feet deep and seek out choppy water. Marabou jigs will work too. one-eighth to 1/125th oz in sculpin, sculpin/orange, sculpin/ginger, black/yellow, olive, sculpin/olive have been good colors. Areas- anywhere on the lake basically but the best areas have been from Lookout down thru Fall Creek, Fall Creek thru Cooper Creek and even further down to the Landing.

Marabou jigs worked straight-lined without a float, sizes from 1/32nd oz to 1/8th oz, depending on tackle (line size and rod size) and conditions of water and weather. If it's windy, it's hard to work a small jig. Four pound line is standard but some use 2 pound. Six pound it way too big.

Cranks baits like rapalas, pointers and rogues have been working fair. Work them against bluff banks around falled trees and structure for browns and open water for rainbows. Windy conditions or during generation is best.

Live bait- air injected night crawlers are best. Either drift them on the bottom when water is running or anchor and use them still fishing. Best to anchor close to the banks and off the channel and throw into the channel or up off the channel on the sides. Don't anchor and block channels- will just cause frustration to you and other boaters. Best areas are from Fall Creek to Short Creek.

Gulp Power Eggs are working good too. Use one white and one other color- pink, orange or yellow. Use 4 pound line, preferably green or clear. Use a small split shot to get the bait to the bottom.

Winter Trout Fishing

We're at the end of a very unusual year here in the Ozarks, one that hopefully won't repeat itself any time soon. Spring flood waters made our fishing season a tough one, continuing into the fall months and disrupting our fall brown trout spawning run.

Warm water plus low dissolved oxygen issues put alot of stress on our trout, especially up close to the dam but all that is now behind us and we have winter to look forward to. Cold water heals alot of wounds.

Our trout are in good shape though. We've seen healthy rainbows caught and released here in the last couple of weeks all over the lake. Some good stringers of trout have come into the dock for the supper table too. Most anglers have had good fishing trips here of late.

Our midge population looks to be in great shape. We've had some awfully good hatches almost every evening and our trout are responding in a big way. From Fall Creek to the dam on most days, all you can see are trout dimpling the surface of the water, picking off tiny midge flies as the hatch in the film. Scuds or freshwater shrimp are doing well too. We observe alot of trout up in the shallows nosing around in the gravel for a bit to eat.

December marks the beginning of great winter trout fishing here on Taneycomo. Cold yes but fishing is great. Whether it's a fly rod or spin rod, anglers of all skills can come out and enjoy a day on Taney's water and catch some trout.